14
« on: February 18, 2007, 03:28:28 PM »
It seems my first attempt at replying to a gentleman's inquiries resulted instead in a topic. I have no excuse for this, and hope that the follies of new members be forgiven.
I have but one question, after reading your informative FAQ.
"The Earth is accelerating upwards at 1g (9.8m/s-2) along with every star, sun and moon in the universe. This produces the same effect as gravity. "
This was written as an explanation for gravity. While it seems logical at first, it would make it seem that either:
A) The whole universe is moving
B) The whole universe is expanding vertically at a rate of 9.8 meters per second, and a large portion of the universe is empty, due to all of the planets and stars moving upwards.
Now, if you pick A, then I would assume that you were a madman who believed in ridiculous things, since even if the universe moved a hundred miles per minute, then we would not feel a thing. This is comparable to a man riding in a moving train, and tossing a crumpled piece of paper upwards; it would still land on his feet (or, indeed, on his hand, if he had good reflexes).
On the other hand, if you pick B, then at a rate of 9.8 meters per second, and at the universe's age estimated at 11.2 billion (at least. Some experts say 20 billion), the universe would have expanded by 9.8 m/s x 31, 557,600 s/year x 11 billion years, or 3,401,909,280,000,000 kilometers, which is approximately 11 trillion light years. Do all Flat Earthers then believe that the Universe has even more empty space than it had before, and that man's realization that we are but points in a vast space should be revised into "we are but poits upon vast space which is a point upon a vast space..." and so on?
I hope you could provide clarification with regards to this matter.
I thank you all in advance.